Amber
by Saffytaffy
Summary: Six years after they parted ways, Chihiro begins to question what she knows of this life. A strange boy enchants her, and with him comes a slough of new problems regarding both worlds. NEW: The conditions of a dangerous game...
1. One: fire and water

**Amber**

By Saffire Raynius

_This story was written to satisfy my own intrigues for Spirited Away. I didn't write it for anyone else. If you respect that and still manage to like it, then please leave a review. Drawing is my strong point rather than storywriting. _

_Miyazaki owns Spirited Away. The story, however, is mine, with a nod of gratitude to Ruaki, whose wonderful writing inspires me, Gregory MacGuire, who made me see Oz in a new light, and Flamebyrd for writing unique and thoughtful SA fanfiction-- something I am trying to work on.  
_

* * *

**One**; fire and water

"Hold fast to dreams  
For when dreams go  
Life is a barren field  
Frozen with snow."  
_- Langston Hughes_

**T**he creek shed a weak, shimmering light on the sandy shrubbery leaning over it. Over the years, long grasses had filled in the spaces between sand-weeds and cattails, but they still did not deter the occasional litterbug. It seemed to the girl who tended to it like the remnant of some glorious landmark, forced into a trickle by the oppression of a society bent on greed. Then again, people said Chihiro read too much into these things.

A quaint wooden bridge creaked over it as she sat down. If she closed her eyes, would the painted towers of cheap condominiums cease to rise beside her? Or would the water take her by vertigo, find some wicked way to slip her through the cracks of the bridge and claim her as his own?

His?

Chihiro shook her head. There was nothing that really gave her the impression this particular creek was male, and yet some playful part of her being insisted otherwise. Perhaps it was the same itch that pushed sailors to call ships female. Her friends would dismiss the idea as strange.

The teen grasped the bag of trash and began to walk. Every bottle or scrap of plastic she picked up, every pop can or crudely forgotten newspaper, made a difference. She had a responsibility to take care of the park; she lived a minute's walk down the dirt path. It was cool and safe beneath the trees, and the babbling of the swift brook a few feet away from her was comforting.

Chihiro's thoughts wandered to what she was going to do for the rest of summer break. She had a huge assignment due the day she returned, but like a good, hardworking student, she already finished it. The girl was so deep in her thoughts that she barely registered the boy who bumped into her.

"Oh! Excuse me!" Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was perplexed at how cool his arm felt against h-Chihiro took a step back. She had to. The boy was taller than her, first of all, but his eyes, his eyes! Slanted, wide and expressive, and an irresistible, exotic shade of green. They belonged to a magazine cover, a vision, not the boy standing before her. She couldn't help but feel a little intimidated.

The boy seemed to register something Chihiro didn't. And somehow, her name fell on his lips. "Chihiro?" The question was tentative, unsure. It only made her feel strange and apprehensive.

Her eyes narrowed. "How do you know my name? Have we met?" It was rather upsetting to have someone she didn't know call her by her first name. Something about the boy seemed keenly familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. By looks, he had to be in her grade or the one above her. However, his old-fashioned Japanese clothes made him look like he just came back from the New Year's Festival.

Chihiro's fierce look didn't deter him at all, though his soft smile began to fade. "You already know the answer to that question." His voice was intense, even when quiet; it masked some inner excitement, some inner drive toward something she couldn't name.

"What?"

"You don't remember me?"

Still, nothing registered. The teen's face was completely blank. "I don't know you, I'm sorry," she told him, evidently perturbed. "Can I help you? Are you lost?" His response only made her feel uneasier.

"No. Are _you?" _His eyes were deep and enchanting-and they threatened to pull her in.

Chihiro shook her head and walked past him. "I'm going home now." She didn't like the personal way such a strange boy addressed her. Maybe it was one of those high society girls playing a trick. But there was something undeniable about the way he looked at her and the strange thrill she felt when she set her eyes upon him. Chihiro teetered on the edge of some great discovery, some shining revelation, as long as she dallied in his presence.

He did not follow, but she felt his eyes.

Her mom questioned her about anything when she came home looking troubled, but Chihiro simply shrugged it off and continued about her day. Chihiro continued her daily visits to the creek despite the unnerving encounter with the boy. She didn't see him again, so she preferred to forget it happened.

A week later, however, Chihiro woke up to the stench of burning plastic and acrid smoke. She threw her curtains open to see what was the matter, if perhaps a house burned down the street, but the suburb was quiet. She flew down the flight of stairs to her parents' bedroom, screaming all the way, "Mom! Dad! There's a fire!"

But even as the words left her mouth, she realized how dead her house was. No smoke, no fire, no signs she'd anything but dreamed the whole ordeal. Her father stumbled out. "What's going on, Chihiro?" he asked through a yawn.

"It's three A.M.," her mother stated from somewhere nearby.

Chihiro felt her face turn hot. "I-I thought I smelled something burning." She moved aside to let the tall, comforting hulk of her father past.

"I'll check on it. You just go back to bed."

"Alright…"

The burning smell seemed to fade as soon as she reentered her room. This only bothered her more. She didn't nod off until the sun threatened to peer over the horizon, afraid some unknown force was playing tricks on her nose and her memory. As soon as she began to slip into the darkness, her mind fancied a world of chilly water, and a soothingly familiar presence brought her to the surface so she could breathe again. No one noticed the pale flash as it stole away from her balcony.

Chihiro gagged on her breakfast, catching her mother's attention. "Mom! Mom! The news! Look, that's where we used to live!" She could hardly believe it. The apartments next to the filled in river from her childhood were smoldering ruins. There was nothing left, nothing left at all.

_"A four-alarm fire last night caused over five million yen in damages…"_

Chihiro gave her mother a meaningful look. She didn't seem to catch it and dialed a friend on the phone instead. There was no possible way she could have smelled the fire… No way whatsoever. Fumes just didn't travel that far and her parents hadn't mentioned anything. Chihiro tried to convince herself it was just a coincidence, just an unrelated half-dream. She didn't believe it.

_"The cause has yet to be determined. The fire department suspects it was accidental. Thankfully, there were no deaths involved…"_

Something didn't sit right about the incident. She felt they were inexorably connected: her inability to sleep, that fire smell, and the apartments' burning down. The strange meeting with the pale boy all but escaped her memory.

She did not see him that afternoon, nor the one after, nor the one after that. In fact, she did not see him until midsummer night's eve one week later. A fresh breeze filtered through her gauzy curtains. Chihiro could not scream, _would_ not. She lay enraptured in that strange state of half dreaming, entranced by the ghostly figure on her balcony. He slipped across the threshhold without a sound and set something cool and smooth beside her bedroll. She tried for a glimpse of his eyes, but the moon refused to catch them. And then he was gone.

Chihiro could not say for sure that he had even been there. Shouldn't she have cried out? After all, he was a stranger-- no, a _stalker_ at that. But something deep within her chest protested there was truth in every sharp angle of his thin, graceful fingers, the iron of his jetsam gaze.

She rubbed her thumb and forefinger across the stone's surface, and wondered.

* * *

_A clue, a memory, and many joyous returns . . . +2_

And also, something less jumpy. Coming soon in chapter two!

-- Saffy


	2. Two: sun and moon

**Amber**

By Saffire Raynius

_This story was written to satisfy my own intrigues for Spirited Away. I didn't write it for anyone else. If you respect that and still manage to like it, then please leave a review. Drawing is my strong point rather than storywriting. _

_Miyazaki owns Spirited Away. The story, however, is mine, with a nod of gratitude to Ruaki, whose wonderful writing inspires me, Gregory Maguire, who made me see Oz in a new light, and Flamebyrd for writing unique and thoughtful SA fanfiction-- something I am trying to work on._

* * *

**Two**; sun and moon

"And yet that spirit knew not, in the hour  
Of its own fervor what had o'er it power."  
_- E.A. Poe_

**"A**mber," her mother remarked, startling the teen out of her thoughts.

"Amber?"

"It's fossilized tree sap. Sometimes bugs are trapped in it."

Chihiro's dark eyes wandered to the treasure she'd found-- no, been _given_-- that morning. "There aren't any bugs in it," she said. But there was an irregularity, an interruption to the gold round. She fancied it looked like a river, or the crest of a wave, or maybe the faint _s_ of some creature twisting against the sunsettish backdrop. She couldn't explain the origin of her third theory and voted not to dwell on it.

But her mind kept wandering back to the night of the fire, and when she stood on the bridge of the creek, she felt as if something waited to engulf her.

Summer break came to an anticlimatic but expected end. Chihiro sighed and resumed her normal studies. She had friends she conversed with about nothing in particular, least concerning the unsettling events that had conspired over break. And when she _did_ inquire about the strange boy, she received no satisfying answers.

"I think you made him up," snorted Tachiko. Kaoru begged to disagree.

"Maybe he's from a different school, a fancy one."

Chihiro's school was private like most Japanese schools, but it was cheap, and both sexes attended. She cared less and less about the floundering and frivolous attentions of boys, and more about her not-so-distant past. Her memory was foggy around the time she had moved, and she could scarcely remember her old friends. But her mom would know.

Her drives to school with her mom were often plagued with boring parental talk, until she gathered enough courage to ask a question: "Mom, what was it like before we moved?"

Her mother kept her eyes on the road. "Oh, Chihiro dear, you were so attached to your old life. You had lots of friends, and I guess you were a little spoiled." The corners of her mother's lipsticked lips curled into a warm smile, amused by some memory.

"Spoiled...?"

"You weren't the same after we moved. I remember, you threw the biggest fit when we told you. But you're so much better now. You're mindful and modest-- and not just at your grandma's house, either."

"Ah..." No matter how hard she tried, Chihiro simply could not remember what had brought about such a drastic change. Her mother glanced to her daughter for a moment. The approaching streetlight encased her features in ivory for an instant, like a camera flash.

"Once, I tried to take away that hair band and give you a new one, and you had such a tantrum that I had to give it back."

Chihiro nodded slowly. "I think I remember that." She absentmindedly fingered the small purple loop she'd worn for as long as she'd lived here. It still hadn't lost its shine. "I think Meiko gave it to me as a moving gift. I forget."

Her mother made an noncommittal noise and returned to her drive. They shared an odd span of reflective silence. The last words they exchanged were niceties as Chihiro staggered out of the sedan. It would be the last time she saw her mother whole.

* * *

One minute, everything made sense. The next, the world seemed like an enemy. Chihiro couldn't comprehend the tone in her father's voice as he told her about the accident. He said something about staying the night at the hospital and sending Auntie to watch her. Calls were made, school was excused for Chihiro for the next week.

And she comprehended none of this.

Her eyes fluttered open. The moon slanted across the creek as if it had one eye and was trying to peer at her using its reflection as a surrogate. Her right hand turned something over and over in her pocket: cool and smooth and round, until it began to absorb some of her body heat.

"Why are you here?" a cold voice demanded. She pinned it to the mysterious boy whom she'd stumbled into a couple of weeks ago, had visions about. He stared at her expectantly from the end of the bridge. In the pale jackal's moon, he seemed more dangerous than ever, but the moonlight rounded the edges of his features to chip away at the warmth within. He was nothing more than a spirit, she told herself. Another thought was to run. But once again, she felt as if caught between wakefulness and sleep.

"What do you know about me?" Chihiro asked in a wavery voice as her gaze traced the rounded edge of his neat, chin-length hair. He moved a little closer. In the grey of their landscape, the only color was the rebellious emerald of his almond-shaped eyes. She found herself unable to breathe, yet overcome by a certainty that he would not harm her. Something, something waited to—

The boy paused at her question. "You really don't remember." The statement carried both a note of disappointment and solemn acceptance.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She drew herself back a step. "Remember what?" She was getting agitated by the questioning so her volume began to rise.

"Anything."

"I-I shouldn't be out here, Auntie will be mad, I..."

The boy took three more steps and easily overtook her. "I'm your friend. I told you to remember _that_, at least." A chill breeze whistled through the spaces between buildings, caused chatter in the birches above them. He had such _power._ Was she imagining it?

"Chihiro, what's wrong?" The sincere way his voice lightened cut into her shock hotly. Wait, that wasn't it. There were tears pouring down her face. She tried to tell him to get away, that she didn't know why she was here, that her mother had been involved in a car crash-- but all that came out was a torrent of tear-choked sobs. He wrapped his strong arms around her, and she did not struggle.

In that strange moment on the bridge, everything made sense. He smelled cool and fresh and wonderful and warm and _God,_ how could she have been so stupid? This was what made sense, what she'd been missing, the reason she'd changed herself and changed so many other lives in the process. She cried for her mother and she cried for her own forgetfulness, and she cried how she'd hurt him, and she cried until she couldn't remember what she was crying about. She hadn't shed a tear since their move six years ago. No, not since their move. Since her imprisonment in the spirit world.

His name came hesitantly, breathlessly from her lips. "Haku..."

He smiled at her, reflecting the pale light like a second moon. "It's all right. It's all right, Chihiro." The dragon boy's sainted fingers immersed themselves in her brown hair. There was nothing more secure than the way he held her against him; there was nothing more satisfying than knowing despite all that they'd gone through, they were still inseparable.

The session of sobbing left her tired but relieved. He gently lowered her to the boards on the bridge. She gathered her knees to her side as she leaned up against him. "Now tell me what happened," he commanded. She recounted to him what she retained of the news of the accident. He listened with his usual grave expression before offering up a point. "She isn't gone yet. If what you told he is true, then she'll recover in a couple of weeks and it will be like she never got hurt."

"But I almost _lost_ her!" Chihiro protested. "She could have died!"

Haku's expression was flat. There was no point in arguing, really; if Chihiro's parents were taken again, they both knew she would go to the bowels of the spirit world to recover them: even at the cost of her own life. So he said nothing more on the subject, and they simply bathed in one another's presence, trying to get a grip on the reality of the situation.

"I have a lot of questions," Chihiro admitted after a while. Haku simply raised his eyebrows at her in silence. She turned her face toward him. The roundness of her face had matured and hinted at her inner fortitude as well as kindness, and the chestnut-colored locks she bound so easily before overflowed past her shoulders. A million words crowded onto her tongue at once, and all she could manage was, "Why amber?"

The corners of his small mouth pulled into a smile. "We'll talk tomorrow. You need your rest." She began to protest, but all that came out was a yawn. All this remembering and grief had sucked the energy right out of her.

"You won't disappear, right?" she asked as he lifted her to the edge of her balcony.

"I'll be here," Haku assured her, and then he urged her inside.

* * *

She explained to her aunt the next morning that she'd bumped into an old friend, nothing more. Although her aunt expressed concern for a few seconds, it was clear that she was lazy and preferred to suck up the resources Chihiro's house offered rather than babysit a teenager. Chihiro recalled that Auntie had no children of her own, and she was actually grateful for the freedom. She had no idea what to do with it. So, for the rest of the morning, she did chores and fixed up the house. As soon as it approached noon, she felt her nerves begin to jump around. Noon... Her father said he'd call, and if he didn't, then he was most likely on the way home with her mother.

Chihiro launched herself at the door when she heard someone roll up the driveway. She was already halfway toward them when her father pulled himself out of the car. "Mom! Mom! Is she alright?"

"I'm fine, sweetie," came the familiar and familial voice from the passenger's seat. The door opened, and a leg encased in a large pink cast dangled out. Chihiro's eyes widened. She stopped right where she was. Her father bumbled about, fetching crutches and the like from the back of the car. "Hold the door open, Chihiro." She did as she was told, mutely, and soon enough, the slender figure of Mrs. Ogino made her way inside. The teen didn't hesitate to shower her with love and affection and a slough of questions.

Aside from looking a little tired, her mother's smile was gentle as always. She didn't refrain from giving Chihiro a small lecture on the specifics of a chicken stir-fry. Chihiro wasn't much of a cook-- in fact, she was an _amazing_ maid-- but she sighed in resignation and acknowledged her dinner responsibility. Auntie disappeared a few minutes after the joyous reunion; she never did get along very well with her sister-in-law.

"It was the other driver's fault," her mother stated over tea. "He cut me off because he forgot the next turn was his. No signal, no warning, nothing." Chihiro sipped her tea in silence as her mother continued, "The sedan is totalled, but at least we have an excuse to get something a little nicer. You wouldn't mind that, right dear?"

"I was actually hoping to learn how to drive in that car," she answered in a small voice.

"Oh, well, our next one will be nicer."

Chihiro watched her mother with silent admiration as she conversed with her father. What a woman, she thought. The day after a car accident, her leg wrapped up and useless, a lot of pain, and all she can talk about is how _rude_ someone is. That required a whole different strength entirely. Chihiro really didn't see herself as strong or exceptional in any real regard except her concern for things that matter. She knew her mother cared somewhere beneath the light conversation, and that was the important difference between ignorance and acceptance.

"I'm going to go to the park now," she told them. "I'm really glad you're okay, mom." Chihiro furnished her mother with a huge, unexpected hug, and then she slipped through the back door and was gone.

"I think she's handling it pretty well," said her father.

"Of course she is. She grew up a long time ago."

* * *

_The conditions of a dangerous game… +3_

I have no idea what to do from here! Yay! Thanks for the reviews… I didn't know anyone liked this.

Edit 1-3-07: Thanks, Freya S., for weaning the American custom out of Haku's character. And to everyone else who's reviewed so far.

-- Saffy


	3. Three: heaven and hell

**Amber**

By Saffire Raynius

_This story was written to satisfy my own intrigues for Spirited Away. I didn't write it for anyone else. If you respect that and still manage to like it, then please leave a review. Drawing is my strong point rather than storywriting. _

_Miyazaki owns Spirited Away. The story, however, is mine. I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed so far. I read every one and the criticism is IMMENSELY appreciated._

_Please read the author's note at the end for information regarding the future of this story._

* * *

**Three**; heaven and hell 

"It's no use fixing our minds on higher things if we ignore what is going on around us."

_- Aesop_

**S**he knew the steps by heart. A beat waltzed in her head, slow and formal, but she danced regardless. Chihiro could not remember everything, yet she felt her heart lift as her feet did. She had wanted to stay with her mother, but the discovery of an old friend and the evident steadfast of Mrs. Ogino convinced her otherwise.

She emerged from the park proper. The sage-haired boy crouched beside the creek, haunting emerald eyes focused on something in his hand. She approached him cautiously to respect his peace.

"Hello, Chihiro." His voice was considerably warmer than before. She recalled in a foggy memory that it softened only when they were alone. She swallowed her trepidation and plopped down on the bank next to him. Something dark and wet-looking hopped out of his hand into the long grass, and Chihiro cried out.

"What was that?"

"A frog."

"I didn't know we had frogs." She smiled at him. She likened Haku to a leaf heavy with dew; the more she shed her light on him, the more he straightened and shone in return. Yet, something overshadowed his expression no matter how gently his lips pulled into a smile. Chihiro spotted it immediately. There was some measure of awkwardness, some determined way he moved that hinted at deep thought. He felt her eyes and eventually pulled his gaze from the grass to the girl.

"Haku… You're not supposed to be here, are you?" She began to frown. Silvery air, tiny fingers grasped awkwardly at the sun's horns. A name, mirror pieces, the night falling away, a bittersweet realization. "Your home..."

The dragon boy regarded her with a soft smile. "You're right, Chihiro. I can't go home yet." Chihiro's bottom lip drew up in a sort of pout. She feared he would leave and he saw it in her eyes. "But I'm closer than ever."

"H-how are you even here? You told me you would explain."

The way his gaze darkened increased her worry. Haku immediately looked away. "You have a right to know." Chihiro leaned over and tried to peer into his face. He blinked and looked at her out of the corner of his eye, then went on. "I did negotiate my employment with Yubaba, but it took me seven more years. That's why I couldn't be released until a couple of weeks ago.

"But something else happened that no one expected." He glanced around. At once, he became dreadfully serious.

"What? What happened?"

"_Akugami_."

Chihiro blinked a few times at the word. "_Aku…-gami?"_

Haku nodded solemnly. "Mischievous spirits whose only goal is to upset the balance between the human world and the spirit world." Chihiro crawled over until she practically sat shoulder to shoulder with him, but he pretended not to notice.

She was full of questions as always. "Like what?" Haku's expression became unreadable.

"They found the former home of a spirit, which had been taken over by humans, and destroyed it." Chihiro's eyes widened. "And in turn, he was allowed to walk through the tunnel and come here."

"I don't…"

"The apartments burned down. Now, there's a good chance they will restore my river!" Haku couldn't keep the excitement out of his voice, and it triggered a similar reaction in Chihiro. She threw her arms around his waist. Whatever else he was about to say dove back into his throat promptly, leaving him with a gawky sort of hesitation—until he slipped his arms about her and held her close. He imagined as he closed his eyes that he was only blue energy, and she shone a saffron color akin to sunlight. Whenever they touched, the space between them became a glorious green: living, thriving, tangible, and warm.

"But…"

The soft plea drew Haku out of his vision. He could see her dark eyes trying to formulate a question she was hesitant to ask and _he_ was hesitant to answer. "But what will happen when you get your river back? You'll have to go away again, won't you…?"

His reply came in a soft tone that held just as much suspense as the night they were reunited on the shore. "I'll be able to come back, Chihiro. I'm stronger than I've ever been. I'll be able to travel."

"Why?"

"Because I have another home, and it's right here."

Her heart lurched. All at once she felt the tranquility of the creek; the cool, clear comfort his arms provided; the steady heartbeat thrumming in his chest and the fluttery once resounding in her own. _How could I?_ she thought. _How could I have ever forgotten?_

Eventually she pulled away, allowed the river spirit to breathe. The serenity between them wasn't affected by the lack of hug. Something else still troubled his expression and it affected her, too. "Haku, what's wrong?"

The icy miles infringed on their sunny, damp alcove between the fingertips of the park. He looked away again. "The _akugami_ are doing more than playing pranks on humans. Do you know what will happen exactly twenty-one days from today?" Chihiro shook her head. The ways of spirits were elusive to her. "A solar eclipse," he continued gravely. "The _akugami_ are breaking down the barriers between the worlds one day at a time, and when the sun is eclipsed, every spirit willing will be able to cross over into yours without consequence. In return, many humans may find themselves trapped in the spirit world. The dead will be living, the living will be in-between—everything you know will change."

"That's… rather… heavy…"

"The truth is… I was sent here to find a human who has succeeded on both sides of the border, because I am a spirit who has done the same."

It was all too much for Chihiro to handle. She shook her head slowly, eyes narrowing in confusion. "I don't…" The spirit's fingers gently clasped her shoulders. They felt cool, like the kiss of a breeze by a riverside, and oh so urgent. Just like that, their eyes locked—emerald determination met the steadfast of Chihiro's gaze, drew it out of her like those grown-up qualities she'd harnessed in herself back then. She understood.

"It's your choi—"

"I'll do it," the teen cut in.

Haku blinked. There was a small, stunned silence, and then he nodded. His eyes migrated back to the long grass, where something twitched. Chihiro all but pounced on it. She straightened up a moment later with something cupped in her palms: a moist green frog.

Chihiro knew the steps by heart. It was an old, ancient beat, one she could follow with her eyes closed and her back weighed down by many burdens. It was a rhythm, a drum, something that mirrored the beat of her own heart and—and she smiled. Maybe a new journey wouldn't be so hard… or maybe it had already begun.

* * *

She tiptoed as quietly as possible through the living room, imagining for a moment that she was trying to evade the notice of some witch. But the witch in this case was more like the snoozing figure of her mother, who had dozed off during an eight-man comedy routine. Her father had curled up into a ball with his head in her lap. Chihiro smiled fondly at them, and then she disappeared into the kitchen.

The gravity of her situation didn't really hit her until she was measuring rice into the cooker. "Oh…" His eyes had been so grave… his touch so earnest. There was risk involved. This wasn't some fairy tale excursion into the woods. This was—this was life and death, _literally_, wasn't it?

Just because this was the second time didn't make it any easier. Her mother—her father—everyone she knew was in danger and she barely knew _anything_. What was so special about _her?_ Chihiro asked herself as she stared into the clear plastic of the rice cooker. It began to fog, obscuring her reflection. Her only real strength was caring for things that matter. She'd been such a brat back then, it was amazing that someone as kind and powerful as Haku would even _consider_ being her best friend—

There was no doubt that he would not do this. There never had been. Chihiro could no longer see the world as narrowly as a child. Her parents were still her world, and always would be, but _God—_if it only were that simple. The entire world was going to rip open and people were going to die.

She attacked the chicken stir fry assignment with a fervor her mother admired from the entrance to the kitchen. "It looks great, dear." Chihiro hadn't heard the clunking of crutches, she was so involved in her own thoughts.

"A-Ah! Mom!" She smiled sheepishly as she nearly dropped the pan. "How are you feeling?" She moved away from the stove to tend to the rice, trying to disguise the faint trembling of her clumsy fingers.

Mrs. Ogino slid onto one of the stools, reached up to pull a bit of brownish hair away from her face. "I'm doing just fine. A little mad at your father."

"Why?" the teen inquired over her shoulder.

"Oh, he fell asleep on me and put my _good_ leg to sleep. I'm alright now."

The girl smiled a little. If she wanted to preserve this…

"Honey, your chicken sounds like it's about to explode." The scald washed out of the remark with her mother's soft laugh. Chihiro stammered an apology and went back to preparing the meal.

Somehow, despite all of the strangeness of the events that had conspired, dinner was mostly normal. Her father went on about work and her mother nodded as she ought to. No one mentioned anything about the accident, and Chihiro ate with relative, relishing silence. Her appetite was lighter than usual but no one could blame her for it. She couldn't help but feel like she was on the edge of something fast, and she might fall into it.

She didn't, though, and she didn't fall asleep either. Chihiro sat on the edge of her bed with her shoes carefully tied and a hoodie tucked about her waist. Her luxurious bay window was open to the crisp, calling night. Every breeze that ruffled her gauzy curtains made her jump, but she would console herself and turn back to her diary.

"_Dear…"_

Dear who? Chihiro had piles of dream journals but she never knew who to address them to. If it was only supposed to be _her_ reading them, then shouldn't she put "Dear Me?" But, say in thirty or forty years, her descendants discovered her journals and wanted to know about her super exciting life (_not)_…

"_Dear Whoever Might Read This…"_ Now it sounded like a suicide note. She started over. _"Dear Everyone…"_ Nope, still too dark. Maybe she could make someone up. Maybe…

And so it became, _"Dear Haku." _Chihiro laughed mentally. Like he would ever touch this. If anyone dared question who this person was, she could say that he was imaginary; he was someone who never existed, but if he had, he would have been the perfect friend. Dragging her on adventures and the like. This was beginning to sound like a book. The piece of amber winked at her from the corner of her diary as she wrote what would be the first entry of many—she hoped—in her blank journals.

The small red book disappeared into her hoodie whereas the stone went back into her pocket. As she reached for her lamplight, a silvery flash by the window caught her attention. No, not silvery… It was blue and green and purple, dark and light. It was Haku. She stole to her window and leaned out to look around, only to come nearly nose to nose with the ancient teen.

"Ah! I knew you'd come!"

He half-smiled mysteriously and pressed his finger to his lips to indicate silence. "You need to see something," he said in his usual thick, low tone. He seemed different than how he first appeared in her memories (or was it secondly?); he radiated the moonlight like an answering moon.

Chihiro blinked. "Where are we going?"

The dragon boy responded by seizing her hand in his. She gasped faintly. Just by touching him, she seemed to _feel_ more, see more, hear more, taste everything—just by his touch. "You'll see."

Whatever Chihiro might have said in response to that was promptly forgotten. She left her room behind and safety and ground and oh, she was flying! No strings attached, no one to tell her what to do, just the night sky and the moon and Haku's tiny smile, which was shy and small like a crescent moon in itself. Her fingers entwined in his eagerly as the breeze escorted them over the rooftops of the sleeping suburbs, and somewhere below, the world smiled back.

* * *

_Bearing witness to a miracle, empowered—the saint shines through… +4_

I have come to the conclusion that my ability to thread a story together and make it cohesive is about as good as my ability to navigate a parking lot. For this reason, I'm probably going to never update Amber beyond chapter five. If anyone ever tells you fanfiction is like roleplaying with yourself, slap him. It is a pack of lies and a good RPer does not necessarily make a good storywriter, as I have learned time and time again. I'm going to stick to poetry, plzkthx. Sorry if my two and a half fans got their hopes up, but it's the truth. I will always be around doing artwork and roleplaying and writing poetry when I feel like it, however, so check out http://hyrule.nu/saffy to see what's going on with me currently.

I appreciate every review. Thanks guys, and sorry to disappoint.

-- Saffy


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